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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – The Montevallo Bulldogs added on to their solid season with a playoff win over the Talladega Tigers in the first round of the South Super Regionals on Thursday, Oct. 26 before their run came to a close with a loss to the T.R. Miller Tigers in the second round.

Montevallo’s day started with a first-round match against the Talladega Tigers. Montevallo came out firing in the first set and asserted its dominance early in the match.

The Bulldogs kept the Tigers at bay and extended their lead to double digits by taking set point, which gave them a 25-15 first set win and a 1-0 lead.

Montevallo used that momentum to dominate the second set. The Bulldogs pulled ahead and established a wide lead that Talladega couldn’t overcome. Eventually, Montevallo won the set 25-9 to position itself for a straight-set win.

With the Bulldogs needing just one more set win to advance to the next round of regionals, they took care of business in the third set. While the third set was the closest of the three sets, Montevallo still kept its foot on the gas and did what it needed to in order to close out the match.

Montevallo polished off the 3-0 sweep with a 25-17 win in the third set, and that booked a matchup with T.R. Miller in the second round for a spot in states.

Zoe Jones led the Bulldogs with 16 kills and eight digs, and Emeli Guardado had another great match while serving with eight aces to go with her 15 assists. Jaida Heath also had 12 assists.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they could not keep their momentum going against T.R. Miller in the next round. Montevallo dropped each of the first two sets by a score of 25-16, and from there, the Bulldogs couldn’t recover.

Montevallo made the third set closer, but T.R. Miller won the frame, 25-20, to take the 3-0 win and advance to the state tournament.

Despite the loss, Montevallo completed a great year that included an undefeated run through area play en route to taking the area title in addition to its playoff win.